


Nursery Rhymes and Lullabies

by Ennarcia



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Aaravos/Elarion used to be a thing but she's super dead now so it's not, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2019-11-29 10:22:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 14,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18221843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ennarcia/pseuds/Ennarcia
Summary: Mirror mirror, on the wall...(I'd love to give you a better summary than this, but I'd like it to be a surprise, ya know?)





	1. Mirror Mirror in the Dungeon

**Author's Note:**

> Almost called this fic "It's 5 am, proper titles don't exist" (and a shittier summary to match lol) but since this is my first fic for this fandom, I decided against it.

     King or not, Ezran still enjoyed exploring the forgotten passages in the castle. It was a nice way to relieve stress from a day of an uncooperative council. "We should do this, we should do that, we should send more troops to the breach. Oh, I know, we should execute Viren!" Ezran mocked, placing Bait down in front of the mirror. He didn't want to do _any_ of that! He wanted to wait until Callum got back and he knew Zym was safe with his mother! Just because he was a child didn't mean he was going to let the council push him around! He wasn't stupid! Opeli was the only one who treated him half way decently, and even she was clearly worried his age was a problem! Plus, Corvus and Gren kept trying to follow him around. So now here he was, checking out a mirror in a hidden room after he'd eaten all of his jelly tart stash. "This mirror is kind of weird, don't you think, Bait?" The glow toad croaked in agreement, paws up and looking at the glass with his master. It showed Ezran and Bait's reflections just fine, but nothing behind them. Almost as if they were looking outside a window while it was pitch black outside. Ezran lifted a curious hand to rest on its surface, and both boy and toad let out a sound of surprise when another hand came out of the darkness to meet it.

 

The hand was followed by an entire body. An elf's body, one that seemed to hold the entire night sky on their skin, and a curious look on their face. The young king was instantly dazzled by them, taking several moments to even remember to speak. "Hi, I'm Ezran," he started with an introduction, "and this is Bait!" He picked up the toad for emphasis, and the toad gave his usual grumpy greeting. The elf's face shifted from curiosity to a warm, pleasant smile. A kind smile Ezran had seen many times before. From Aunt Amaya, Callum... his dad. A smile that said Ezran was precious. Really, mysterious mirror elves you couldn't talk to should not be immediately trusted, but Ezran was 10, lonely, and the mysterious mirror elf was beautiful and smiling at him like he was the most important thing in the world. When the elf left and returned with a small treasure box of items, gesturing to each one as if to say "find these", Ezran eagerly ran to do so.

 

He found everything he needed in Viren's old study. All together in one place, which was _really_ convenient, and when Bait pointed this out, Ezran brushed the toad off. "Come on, Bait, it's magic stuff. It's probably a common spell. Wait, does that mean it's dark magic? But they're an elf. Why would they use dark magic?" Bait still wasn't so sure, but he couldn't ditch Ezran, so to the mirror with the goods they went.

 

"Good thing this cloth already has that symbol on it, huh, Bait?" A croak in agreement as the elf drew said symbol in the air, pushing it into the mirror where it dispersed like smoke. Watching the elf handle each item was like a magic show, and sometimes Ezran forgot he was supposed to be copying them. The elf was nothing but patient however, gently coaxing the child thru the process. The weird rock water had even tasted kind of good! Everything was going well, Ezran was feeling more and more confident as they went along, except now the elf had stopped. They had a bothered look on their face, doubtful, almost. "What's wrong?" The elf looked at him for a moment, took a deep breath, and picked up the knife, holding it at their own palm. "Oh."

 

Ezran stared at the knife in his hand, and looked to the elf. They didn't look any happier than before. Really, asking a child to cut them self would probably make anyone feel bad. Ezran looked to the knife again, and then to Bait. The glow toad let out a small, unhappy sound, practically curled into himself. "I know, Bait... But I need to do this." He'd made his decision. Taking a deep breath, he cut into his hand. He cut too deeply, letting out a cry and dropping the knife, which clattered to the floor. Bait cowered behind Ezran's legs as his blood fell into the bowl and the bug made its way over. It chattered a small greeting at him as the elf once again drew symbols on the mirror. Was it not over? The symbol disappeared like smoke just as before, and Ezran looked down at his hand as the wound disappeared without a trace. Ezran was free to giggle as the bug crawled up his arm and to his ear. "That tickles!" 

 

"I apologize for asking you to do that, little one."

 

The deep voice startled Ezran, who blushed. He'd thought the elf was a woman, but he was definitely not going to tell him that now. "It's fine, really! You made my hand all better, and we can talk, so it's okay! Anyway, I'm Ezran," he once again picked up the glow toad, "and this is Bait!" A croak of acknowledgment.

 

"I am Aaravos, little one."

 


	2. Adults want power. Children want (?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's favorite worm gets a name. Even tho this worm is technically an OC since it's not Viren's worm. Ezran's worm gets a name, everyone's favorite worm gets a name later. Maybe...

     "So they don't have a name?" Ezran asked, lightly stroking the worm that was chilling on his ear.

 

"No, but you may give it one, if you wish." Aaravos' voice coming thru the tiny worm was weird, to say the least. Ezran still wasn't used to it. True, it had only been like, 30 minutes maybe, but still.

 

Flopping back onto the cold stone floor of the dungeon, Ezran lifted Bait into the air. "What do you think?" Bait gave a noncommittal answer. Names weren't his specialty. "I just don't know." Ezran was trying really hard to come up with something good, face scrunched up in concentration.

 

"Wormavos, perhaps?" Aaravos suggested, a laugh hiding in his voice. The worm promptly went _nuts_.

 

Ezran let out an excited cheer. "They love it! Wormavos it is!"

 

"Of course they do." The laugh gave way to a long suffering sigh. The long suffering sigh of someone who has had this happen multiple times before.

 

They talked about many things after that. Glow Toads like Bait: "They're actually considered quite a noble creature in Xadia." The Dragon Prince: "So everyone thought the egg was smashed, but Viren, our old high mage, actually stole it and-" Ezran missed the look on Aaravos' face at the mention of the man, prattling on with his story. Ezran's ability to talk to animals: "So I _finally_ proved it to Callum, and he did his jerk face dance! You gotta see it! When he gets back, I'll have him show it to you!" "Yes, I would like that very much." For hours they talked. On and on, until the young King's stomach grumbled and Aaravos practically shooed him away.

 

"So long as Wormavos is with you, I am with you. Please, go eat. I am sure Bait would like to eat as well." In response, Bait gave Ezran a confirmatory croak.

 

"Okay..." Ezran practically dragged his feet out of the room and back to the main corridors of the castle.

 

"King Ezran!" Wormavos scurried to hide in his hair at Corvus and Gren's joint shout. "We've been looking all over for you!"

 

"Did something important happen or were you guys just over reacting because I was out of your site for five minutes?" The men had the decency to look bashful.

 

"Um..." Corvus started, which normally meant the second thing.

 

Gren cleared his throat. "With all due respect King Ezran, you've been gone for several hours." 

 

Ezran let out an exasperated sigh. "Well, I'm _fine_ , so don't worry about it. And how many times have I told you guys to just call me Ezran?" It was like talking to a pair of brick walls sometimes. After that his stomach growled again, and he was able to escape to dinner.

 

Dinner he promptly squirreled away into his room. Wormavos reattached them self to his ear when they were free of prying eyes. "Oh yeah, what do you eat?" He had dinner for himself and Bait, but not the worm. Really, he should have expected the answer of leaves (Glorious leaves!). It looked like a caterpillar after all. Ezran managed to sneak them some leaves off a potted plant. Aaravos informed him Wormavos didn't really need to eat, but by then it was too late. Besides, the worm had really seemed to enjoy the meal.

 

Meal done and laying in bed, Ezran heard his voice. "Good night, little one." 

 

"Good night," Ezran yawned. It was close enough to being tucked in.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wormavos: Doesn't need to eat because of magic bullshit reasons.  
> Also Wormavos: Lies to get leaves.
> 
> Was gonna make it a little longer but decided this was a good, concise stopping point.


	3. Whispers in your ear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A child king is vulnerable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It feels really weird to not use notes. But notes at the end are ideal, and they love to group up at the latest chapter instead of staying on the chapter they're for so...

     "We should do something about Viren." Here they go again. "The guards have reports of him muttering to himself in the dungeon, like he's talking to someone." Opeli brought Viren up almost every meeting. This was always immediately proceeded by-

 

"I suggest execution. He's dangerous. The quicker he's gone, the safer this kingdom will be." General Alan suggested execution right on queue. He hated Viren a lot, and was not at all impartial on this matter. The rushed funeral, near crowning, and then the Pentarchy debacle gave him all the excuses he needed to get rid of him. Ezran wasn't about to fall for it.

 

"Every time you suggested that I've told you no, that answer isn't changing today."

 

"But King Ez-"

 

Ezran brought his hands down to slam on the table. "No buts! I give you guys an answer and yet you keep coming back to the same topics! We could be deciding something important, but all you want to do is waste time!" He snapped. "This meeting is going no where, so I'm leaving. Come get me when you're ready to actually get something done." He grabbed Bait and left, ignoring the cries of the council behind him.

 

He fled for the mirror, as going there had replaced his usual spelunking activity. He sat on the floor before it, hugging Bait close and hiding his face. He continued to stay this way, even after Aaravos had removed the darkness hiding the mirror's true nature, and Wormavos had settled on his ear. "Welcome back, little-" He didn't even get to finish.

 

"No one listens to me! I'm supposed to be their King, but when I tell them something they completely ignore me, or treat me like I'm dumb!" Weeks of frustration were spilling out freely, "and people keep pretending they like me, but they're just trying to get me to do what they want! They think since I'm a kid I won't notice, but I do!" His hands were gesturing wildly with every word. "I hate it here! I wish I'd never decided to come back!" He fell silent and returned to his position of holding Bait tightly and hiding his face. Everything was awful... He'd returned to the castle to _stop_ running away and now he was debating hiding in this room forever and never coming out. A sob. "I want Callum to come back." Whatever was left of the dam broke. He cried loud, ugly tears unbecoming of someone called a King.

 

"Is there any way I may help you, little one?" Aaravos voice pulled the child out of the river of grief he'd been drowning in. An anchor, or perhaps a beacon.

 

He sniffled, and rubbed one of his eyes with a sleeve. "You could come here." He knew better, really, Aaravos had already told him he was trapped there, but for only a moment, he thought...

 

"Perhaps, if you could find someone to help us." Wait, what?

 

Another sniffle. "You can get out?" He was paying more attention now.

 

A chuckle. "What? Did you think I sat in here, letting all this time pass without looking for a way out?" Aaravos' words were teasing but his tone was gentle, and he was smiling at him again. "There is a way, but it's not something I can do alone. We would need another mage."

 

"Viren is a mage... But he's in prison, and I don't think he'd help anyway. Plus, if the council found out about you, they'd take the mirror away..." Ezran's tears were gone and dry on his cheeks as Bait croaked out an answer. "You think they'd help?" Another croak. "Alright then, I'm gonna go try to find them!" Ezran was out the door before Aaravos even wished him luck. He didn't expect to run smack into Gren after opening the painting to Viren's study. Apparently neither had Gren, if his surprised flailing was anything to go by.

 

"Ki- Ezran! Hey! How are you?" He was hiding his hands behind his back, like he'd been caught doing something bad.

 

"I'm okay. Is something wrong?"

 

"No, no, nothing is wrong! I was just in here, doing... work stuff... Boring work stuff. Anyway, I need to, uh, go. Do more work stuff." Really, neither of them wanted this conversation to continue, so Ezran wasn't exactly about to stop him, tho he thought he saw a glint of gold in the ginger's hand.

 

Gren was half way out the door before Ezran thought to stop him. "Have you seen Claudia?"


	4. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Like father like daughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A point of view that isn't Ezran? It's more likely than you think.

    Gren hadn't seen Claudia. Corvus hadn't seen Claudia. Neither had Opeli, five different guards, or any of the animals around the castle. Luckily, Soren had seen Claudia, and even knew where she was going to be next. This was how Claudia found Ezran in Soren's room, the guard showing the young king the moon moth's new habitat. Soren had _tried_ to let it go after they returned to Kotalis, but it had refused to leave his side. Its loyalty had inspired Soren to like this one specific moth, so now it was their pet, and he had something to do and take care of while he was still healing.

 

Ezran practically tackled her when she came in. "Claudia, Claudia! I need you!" He was so excited, and trying to pull her out the door. It was actually really cute and she really wanted to hug him. She almost did, but managed to control herself. Just barely.

 

"Woah, woah, slow down! Don't I get to know why first?" She joked, barely managing to shut Soren's door behind them. To her surprise, Ezran stopped dead in his tracks. 

 

He turned to her, and with the most serious expression she had ever seen, said, "no, it's a secret. You can't tell anyone." She nodded slowly, and let him lead her to where ever it was he needed her to be.

 

Where he wanted her to be, was apparently the secret dungeon where the egg had been kept. Even more specifically, the room where the elf assassin had been kept. He wasn't there anymore, but the mirror was. How had it gotten down here? Had her father done it? There was something different about it too. She brought her face closer to inspect it, and nearly jumped 20 feet into the air when an elf's face was suddenly staring back at her. Said elf proceeded to clearly laugh at her, even tho she couldn't hear them, and Ezran was giggling too. Even _Bait_ seemed to be slightly amused at her expense. Had they planned this? Wait, there was an elf in the mirror. _There was an elf in the mirror_. She grabbed the sides of it and put her face close again, which startled the elf this time, his eyes going slightly wide. "Ezran, how did you find this? We've been trying to figure out the secret to the mirror for _months_!"

 

Ezran shrugged. "I just put my hand on it, and there he was."

 

"But that's- I tried so many spells, was that really all there was to it? We need to find a way to communicate with him. Is that why you needed me?" This was amazing!

 

"No, I already have a way to talk to him. You use Wormavos."

 

"Wormavos?" That's when she saw the worm come out of Ezran's hair, and then it was transported to his hand and held up for Claudia to see. It was the cutest worm she'd ever seen. "Oh my gosh, it even has little leg markings that look like boots!" At that comment, the worm almost looked like it was posing all of a sudden. A moment later she was left wondering if she had imagined it, as it climbed up _her_ arm, and settled on her ear. It felt about as weird as she expected it to. "Alright... So how does the talking thing work?"

 

"Like this." A deep, smooth voice that was clearly what dreams were made of was _not_ the voice she was expecting a worm to have. She wasn't even expecting the worm to talk at all.

 

Claudia was back to closely examining the mirror. "Who are you? _Where_ are you?" The elf laughed like he knew a joke she didn't. "Ezran, what _did_ you need me for if you can already talk to him?"

 

"I want to get him out of the mirror."

 

"What?" Oh no, oh no no no. "Ezran, he's an _elf_."

 

"So, Rayla's an elf too! And if we're going to make peace with Xadia, eventually there are gonna be elves everywhere." Bait croaked at her, a disapproving croak that made her feel very judged.

 

Claudia put her hands on her knees and bent down more to Ezran's height. "Okay, yeah, I know you want to make peace with Xadia, and that's great Ezran, really, but we do not trust shady mirror elves we don't know the name of."

 

"Aaravos."

 

"What?" She turned.

 

"My name." She didn't like that smug look on his face, but now she had something.

 

"Come on, Ezran." It was Claudia's turn to drag Ezran around.

 

"Wait, you can't tell anyone!"

 

"I'm not, I promise. Now come on."

 

\---

 

     She dragged the young king and his glow toad to the library. It was easy enough for her to find the right books and scrolls, now they just needed a place to sit down and read them, and oh hey was that Gren? Of course they had to say hello first, especially since he was at the tables anyway, books piled around him. The second hello left her mouth he slammed his hand forcefully onto the table, making the trio jump. "Gren?" Ezran's voice was timid, and that seemed to startle the ginger out of whatever strange mood he was in.

 

"Oh, I'm sorry, you startled me. I'm kind of tired, so..." He let out a forced laugh, and tried to discreetly move whatever was under his hand. It kind of looked like a coin, but Claudia would be hard pressed to poke at the subject when Gren turned toward them.

 

"Kind of tired?! You look half dead!" There were heavy bags under his eyes, like he'd spent several nights up late.

 

A croak from the toad. "Bait thinks you should go to bed, Gren."

 

"Yeah, yeah, I think I'll do that now. Just let me put these books away." Another forced laugh.

 

"You promise?"

 

"You have my word, King Ezran." With that, Gren started doing as he said he would, and Ezran and Claudia found another table.

 

"Now we can get information on Mr. Mirror Elf." Claudia began opening up the books to the right pages, and unfurling the scrolls, only for Ezran to gasp.

 

"It's turning black!"

 

"Huh?" Yes, the pages in the books before _were_ turning black. "What? No no no!" The librarian shushing her fell on deaf ears as she tried to think of something, _anything_ to stop this. She couldn't, and eventually the trio was back at the mirror, Claudia glaring down Aaravos like her gaze alone could set him on fire.

 

"What was with the books, huh?!"

 

Aaravos shook his head. "It was not my doing, tho I am not surprised they would do something like this."

 

"They? Who's they?!"

 

"The same people who trapped me here, naturally." He said it with such ease and nonchalance, it was really starting to piss her off.

 

"Well you're going to _stay_ trapped there, because I don't trust you! You may have tricked Ezran, but I'm not falling for it!"

 

"Then allow me to _earn_ your trust."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gren in the library was me writing this chapter. Except I have moved beyond dead at this point.


	5. Salvation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezran and Aaravos continue to try and convince Claudia to help them. It has some surprising results.

     "I can tell there is something you want very badly. _What_?" He asked her what it was, but somehow, she felt he already knew. He looked at her as if he was seeing far beyond the surface, deep into her very soul. This feeling... Even trapped inside the mirror, at that very moment, he seemed _far_ from harmless. She was like a baby deer vs a banther, frozen solid where she stood. It was at this point Ezran became uncomfortable with not knowing what was being said and tugged at her sleeve. She snapped back to life in an instant.

 

"No! I don't want anything!"

 

"Have it your way then." This elf was a real piece of work. He didn't seem to _actually_ care if Claudia trusted him or not, even tho she was his ticket to freedom. She didn't understand him one bit. She ended up returning Wormavos to Ezran and leaving to cool her head.

 

\---

 

     An opportunity to gain Claudia's favor came sooner rather than later. The other kingdoms had sent letters speaking of dreadful shadow creatures, begging for help. Alan had blamed Viren with absolutely no proof, and Ezran got to shut him up for once by threatening to execute _him_ instead if he said another word. He hadn't been serious, but the look on Alan's face was worth more than gold. Of course, further investigation proved it was, in fact, Viren, and since dark magic was the cause, they needed someone who knew dark magic to fix it. So Claudia was enlisted to find a solution, but Ezran had the bright idea of also asking Aaravos to help them. She shivered as the worm clung to her ear again.

 

"Of course I know how to stop them. I can even bring them right to you." This was how she found herself carefully painting runes she'd never seen before on four _very_ large pots. Just as carefully, she placed a blue ribbon in the bottom of each pot. The ribbons hadn't burned when the elves had been cremated, and had been put away with their ashes. "Fill each pot with water, as pure as you can get it, and let them sit under the moonlight. Take them inside as the sun rises and store them somewhere dark." She did this without fail, every night for days. Finally, the day of the full moon arrived, and she was informed it was time. Ezran had been taken and hidden away in Aaravos' 'room' for his own protection. "They will come to do what they were bound to. You must work quickly once they arrive." Soren and Corvus had been put in charge of guarding the room. They'd have loved to have included Gren, but the Lieutenant was no where to be found. A few soldiers were with her, prepared to help if necessary. As the moon hung full above them, Claudia poured the ashes into each pot, and stepped back as the water began to glow. "Now, _recite the spell_."

 

\---

 

     It was chaos. The shadow assassins _had_ come right to them, and absolutely refused to let Claudia finish the second part of the spell. She was constantly ducking and weaving and hiding behind soldiers, never getting a moment to breath. It was probably better than them storming the castle in four different places and looking for Ezran, but at this rate she was going to die, and there would be no one to stop them. She only needed a few seconds! Seconds she clearly wasn't about to get as one of the assassins again managed to get past the soldiers and take a shot at her. A shot that was going to hit this time. Luckily for her,  _another_ elf showed up. A real elf, that deflected the blow and saved her life. "Now! Recite it now!" Aaravos urged her, and she did so without another thought.

 

She was expecting for the shadow assassins to disperse or something, not swirl around her like a tornado and get sucked into the pots. Moving closer, she found the water and ribbon had been replaced by more elves. Real, naked elves who were out cold but slowly breathing. She leaned over one, a short haired male with dark skin, and poked his cheek. He stirred ever so slightly, squinted at her, and shoved his hand at her in a pathetic attempt to push her away. He was so weak and out of it that he didn't even manage to reach her before his hand fell back and he was out cold again. It was actually kind of cute.

 

"They're alive?" It was her hero elf, who dropped down and slumped against the pots, breathing heavily. She recognized him now that she wasn't in the middle of trying not to die. It was the prisoner they'd taken on the night the king was killed. She'd thought he'd been killed or something, but here he was. Followed by Gren, who also ended up falling and slumping against another pot.

 

"All this work and you're just going to get captured again." He panted.

 

"I can't leave them." Was the elf's reply. Both men looked like they'd been trampled by a stampede of horses. As if on queue, more soldiers showed up. The elves were taken to the dungeon, and Gren was taken to a doctor because he'd passed out with a fever.

 

\---

 

     Ezran absolutely _did not_ want the elves in the dungeon, but seeing as they were assassins who'd been sent to kill him before, no one listened to his orders. Even _Aaravos_ had warned him against it, and he normally helped Ezran get whatever he wanted. The elves for the most part were still out cold. The only ones up and about were Runaan and the young looking one who'd taken a weak swipe at Claudia that night. He was a scrappy little thing who kept trying to escape every time the guards tried to feed them. They'd had to move Runaan into his cell so _he_ could tell him to stop, but the elf was still huffy about it. When Ezran showed up in front of the cell, he glared at the young king and put himself in front of Runaan. He was promptly pulled out of the way by a horn and told, "stop that," by the same elf. So now he was pouting against the wall. "Forgive him, he's just worried."

 

"It's fine, I understand." Ezran turned toward the pouting elf and asked him is name. Understandably, the elf turned away and ignored him.

 

"His name is Ram."

 

A glare was sent Runaan's way. " _Dirty traitor_." Ezran could tell, just barely, that the elf didn't actually mean it.

 

He spared a glance at Runaan's arm. "What are you-"

 

"I'm going to lose it." An immediate answer with a conviction in his voice no one could fight. They talked for a small while longer before Claudia came to fetch him.

 

\---

 

     "The final step..." Claudia said, picking up a handful of powder made from the dragon horn Soren had lopped off. One more step, and Aaravos should be free from the mirror. His help with the shadow assassins had earned him enough good faith to at least get her to help, tho she had still been apprehensive enough to threaten him before they started. Ezran and Bait were watching from the far corner as she blew the dust onto the mirror, and the runes began to shine. Aaravos reached out and grabbed at the mirror's sides. The room behind him was falling apart and dissolving away into a deep black nothingness as he slowly hoisted himself out. It was working! It was actually working! When he finally pulled himself out fully, the mirror cracked and broke behind him. It crossed Claudia's mind that if he really couldn't be trusted, there was no putting him back, but this realization didn't touch Ezran at all. The child cheered in victory and approached the elf with triumphant laughter and a smile. Aaravos leaned down and hugged the young king tightly in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dungeon buddies don't let dungeon buddies stay trapped in dark magic coins.
> 
> I also stole Ram's name from "Sides of the Moon" and "Journey to Peace". Fics I love a lot, and you should take a look at if you haven't already. It's just the perfect name for this guy.


	6. Freedom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaravos gets settled in with the help of Ezran and Bait. Opeli tries to figure him out.

     King Ezran had told them all about Prince Callum's mission with the dragon prince as soon as he arrived back at the castle. He'd also made it _abundantly_ clear that he wanted to try and establish peace with Xadia. This didn't stop most of the council from trying to talk the 10-year-old king into a war with the magical land. Really, if Opeli hadn't been there, the council probably would have gone to war under _Viren_. So of course, when the king suddenly had an elf with him, they wanted to lock him up. Except unlike when the case was _literal assassins_ , you couldn't say you were loyal to the king and ignore his orders. Despite not trusting the elf one bit, Opeli put the rest of the council in their place and he got to stay. That didn't stop them from placing his room as far away from King Ezran's as physically possible. Not that it worked at all. The elf's room was completely abandoned in favor of Callum's currently vacant bed. Assuming said elf even slept. She'd once, only once, opened the king's door at night to check on him, to find the elf sitting on his bed and watching him sleep. The elf had turned to Opeli and lifted a single finger to his smiling lips. She'd never felt so threatened by such a mundane action.

 

During daylight hours the elf followed King Ezran around like a shadow, and unlike when anyone else did it, the king didn't complain or try to shoo him away. Maybe because more people listened to Ezran when the elf was standing behind him, almost 7 feet tall and imposing. Far too many people had been pushing the boundary of acceptable behavior just because the young king was 10, and this was the first positive thing she'd found about the elf. Maybe the only positive thing. The elf didn't seem to like being trusted, avoiding giving his name or answering most questions without several attempts. The only reason Opeli even knew his name was because Ezran had called him by it in front of her.

 

"And you really think it was him?" Opeli asked the guard.

 

"Yes Ma'am! I saw the tail end of him turning the corner from where the wind came from!" There had been an accident. One of the guards had fallen from a tower, and instead of hitting the ground and meeting a horrible demise, a great wind had picked up and threw them into a hay cart, mostly unharmed. "Winds that strong don't happen in the courtyard, it must have been magic!" Looks like Opeli had an elf to talk to.

 

\---

 

     She expected to find him with King Ezran, but not in a kitchen. "What, exactly, are you doing?"

 

Aaravos stopped working with some kind of dough to look at her like she'd asked a trick question. "Is it not obvious?"

 

"We're making jelly tarts!" Ezran responded happily, stirring a pot of what was probably jelly. Bait gave her an unimpressed stare from the counter top. He was wearing a chef hat with a worm on top of it. The worm also had a teeny tiny chef hat.

 

"Would you like to join us?" Aaravos asked, an insufferably smug smile on his face. Only one person in the entire castle trusted him, and yet he acted like that wasn't a problem.

 

Opeli stood her ground. She had a job to do. "No, I'm here to talk to you about the incident in the court yard."

 

"Oh, that." The mage could not have looked less interested, going back to working on his tart dough.

 

Aha! "So you did do it!" 

 

"Yes, I did." He offered her nothing more, forcing her into an awkward silence. She heard Ezran begin to ask Aaravos about the exchange as she left. They later brought her one of the jelly tarts they'd made, it was pretty tasty.

 

\---

 

     For once she caught Aaravos away from the king's side. He was with Gren, heading down into the dungeon with a small chest in his arms. Naturally, she followed them down to where the elves were kept. They were all bright eyed and bushy tailed now, occupying the same cell. Only one of them, their leader, would talk to anyone, and he still restricted those people to King Ezran and Gren. It was the first word she'd heard out of any of them. " _Startouch_." They looked like they couldn't believe their eyes.

 

"It's the little king's wish that I try and remove his binding." Aaravos explained, and entered the cell. The other assassins promptly scrambled to move the hell out of his way. He tried several spells, and even took some items out of the chest he'd been carrying to do some rituals. Nothing worked, and for the first time, Opeli saw frustration on his features.

 

"He should not worry about me. I bound myself for justice." The leader said, even tho he winced as the binding once again tightened. It was getting worse by the day.

 

"You bound yourself for nothing." Was Aaravos' bitter response. He gathered his items and left the cell. The other assassins crowded their leader in worry.

 

"Anything we can get you, Runaan?" Gren asked, "King Ezran said to make you guys as comfortable as possible."

 

Runaan let out a hollow laugh. "A doctor close by. I don't have much longer left." Even Opeli left the dungeon with a bitter taste in her mouth. Why did she feel defeated too?

 

\---

 

     Aaravos continued to confuse her at every turn. Sure, at first it had seemed like he was just manipulating King Ezran, but the more she saw of them, the less she believed it. She didn't quite understand why either. It was something in the way he acted around the young king, something in the way he _looked_ at him. She just couldn't put her finger on it. Finally, the answer clicked into place. She'd caught them outside, sitting under a tree. The elf had originally been reading a story to the young king, but he'd fallen asleep and slumped onto Aaravos' arm. The elf was once again looking at him in that mysterious way. Except it wasn't mysterious at all. The elf looked at the boy the same way King Harrow once had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaravos: Shh, you'll wake him up.  
> Opeli: I was threatened.
> 
> Jk, he really was threatening her.
> 
> *peace sign* all the way back in chapter 1, someone wondered what Aaravos and Ezran's dynamic was supposed to be. If you're still here, the answer is Dadavos.


	7. The wait ends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A letter arrives, warning the castle of what's to come.

     Everyday, without fail, Ezran would visit the mail room. Everyday, without fail, the crow master or crow lord would have to tell him there wasn't a letter. Ezran was at the end of his rope. "What if there never is a letter? What if they never made it, or returning Zym didn't work?" Aaravos put a comforting hand on the young king's shoulder as they walked. They entered the mail room to discover that the crow master was on shift at the moment. Ezran liked him. Not only was his name actually Crow Master, he understood crows really well. Ezran and the crows themselves had a sneaking suspicion he could actually understand them, but none of them were sure yet. If he could, he hid it really well. At the sight of them, one of the crows started kicking up a fuss in their cage.

 

"No, I've told you a million times, Wormavos is not a snack!" Ezran scolded it. Speaking of the caterpillar, they were currently cowering deep in Ezran's hair. They hated the mail room. At least this got crow master to notice them.

 

Instead of the sad smile he was used to, the young man was beaming at him. "You're not going to believe who got here just a little while ago! I was actually about to come get you!" At this, the crow master moved out of the way of the cage he had been tending to, revealing none other than-

 

"Pip!" His father's bird had escaped when Viren had been arrested, and no one had been able to find them. "Where have you been?!"

 

\---

 

     Pip had been with Callum, finding him and Rayla after the trio had split up in their mission. He had returned to the castle now to deliver the letter Ezran had been waiting for. The peace mission had succeeded. Mostly. The Dragon Queen was over the moon to see her child alive and returned to her. The fact that they had still wanted to end the cycle, even after having assassins sent after them, and the great lengths they'd taken to make it to her, touched her heart. With her backing, the various elves had agreed to visit Kotalis, in hopes of properly establishing a peace treaty between them. So Ezran was now in his room, writing two letters. One in agreement of the elves coming, and one to his aunt Amaya at the breach. She would be in charge of escorting them safely to the palace.

 

"I hope this works." Ezran said, turning his aunt's letter toward Bait for his royal paw print signature. After that, Aaravos poured the wax for the young king and he sealed the letters himself. The royal seal of Kotalis. Ezran examined it in his hand. It didn't look like much, but it carried a lot of weight when used on letters. It seemed silly to him. So silly, that when Aaravos asked to borrow the seal for his own letter, Ezran let him. It was just a seal after all. The letter to Xadia was attached to Pip, and the letter to aunt Amaya was attached to a crow, then both were sent off. Aaravos' letter was a bit more complicated.

 

"None of your crows would know where it is, it's better if I send it myself." So they went outside and Aaravos worked his magic. The letter traveled in style, carried in the talons of a bird made of stars.

 

\---

 

     You couldn't arrive in more style than Callum and Rayla did. Riding in on the back of the Dragon Queen herself wasn't something you could top. Ezran practically tackled his brother, and Callum squeezed him so tightly he almost couldn't breath. Bait jumped on Callum to join their hug, followed by Rayla, and then Zym. Ezran was crying, Callum was crying, Rayla was clearly fighting back tears herself, even as she teased them about it. Zym gave Ezran some zappy kisses. He'd grown, ever so slightly, but not by much. "We flew ahead of them, but the elves and aunt Amaya should be here in a few hours." Callum explained, wiping the tears from his eyes.

 

"That's fine, but in the meantime, I need to borrow Zym." The dragon queen didn't mind, and thus, their reunited party headed for the dungeon. 

 

Rayla looked like a deer in headlights, a small whisper of, " _they're alive_..." escaping her lips. She looked like she was going to cry again. The other assassins had been filled in on what she'd been doing long ago, but there were still whispers of her name, and at least one of them had asked if she was real. The guard was so shocked by prince Callum, another elf, and a _baby dragon_ , that she let Ezran into the cell full of assassins without thinking. The doctor who had been sitting nearby, irritably waiting for Runaan to lose his arm, got up and followed him in. He unceremoniously shoved the other elves out of the way and barked orders at them to give them space like they were annoying children rather than fully trained elf assassins.

 

Runaan's arm was unsettling. The binding had started to squeeze enough to warp it, a noticeable dent had formed. Getting it out enough to let Zym bite it was looking to be a challenge. The doctor just shoved a cloth in Runaan's mouth and barked for someone to hold his hand. Rayla was pushed forward instantly by everyone else in the cell. "Your Majesty, this is definitely going to hurt him. He's probably going to scream. Are you sure you don't want someone else to do it?" Ezran shook his head. A sigh. "Alright then, here we go." The doctor got to work, and yes, Runaan did scream. The binding was refusing to be dug out of the pit it had made, and the arm was already incredibly sensitive. The ribbon even seemed to tighten in defiance on two different occasions. The doctor's patience was wearing thin. "Cooperate you _useless_ thing!" He snapped. Nobody knew if it was magic or just how crazy the situation was at the time, but the binding seemed to loosen, just enough for Zym to get a tooth around it and slice it thru. Ezran immediately found his eyes covered.

 

"Unhand the king!" The guard demanded.

 

"An' let him see _that_? No way! He's what, 6?" It was a male voice, clearly belonging to one of the other assassins.

 

"I'm 10!" Ezran whined as he was turned around and released, completely unharmed.

 

The doctor could be heard muttering in frustration behind him. "I'm taking this one with me. I need better tools than what I brought." The guard tried to protest, but the doctor was having _none of it_. Runaan was removed from the cell and moved to the medical wing. The other assassins, despite how clearly they wanted to go, stayed where they were. 

 

"It's a sign of good faith that you're not gonna leave us here to rot." One had said. Another had told Rayla to watch after Runaan in their place.

 

"Like I wouldn't!" She'd responded.

 

\---

 

     When the boys returned to the dragon queen, they found Aaravos with her.

 

"I was thanking her for protecting my mirror for so long." Thunder and the Queen had been unable to get him out of it, so had taken to guarding it until a solution was found. "The elves in charge of finding one died before they could do so, or so I'm told." Something in Aaravos' voice told them he wasn't telling them everything, and Ezran was reminded of the blackening book pages. Aaravos didn't give them a chance to find out more, changing the subject to Callum. "Your little brother has told me much about you. I am pleased to finally make your acquaintance."

 

Callum was pretty awestruck. "I've heard about you too, actually! Is it true that you mastered all six primal sources?" Aaravos gave him an amused smile, but didn't manage to answer him. The other elves had arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, during several chapters: "I'm gonna put something about Viren in this chapter for foreshadowing and stuff so when he finally comes up, it doesn't seem like what happens comes out of no where."  
> Also me: -ends up not doing that- Ahahaha, I'm in hell.
> 
> That's not like, foreshadowing or anything, I'm just complaining.


	8. A complete collection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The people of Xadia have arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -gets so into the planning of Aaravos' past reveal that I get too far ahead and forget what the plan for this chapter was- I know what I am doing and am totally not a train wreck. (I'm also a dirty liar)
> 
> -bullshits name for ocean elves-

     Once everyone was assembled properly in the courtyard, five different types of elves were present and accounted for. Moonshadow, Sunfire, Earthblood, Skywing, and Oceanwave. The Startouch elves hadn't been seen or heard from in centuries. They'd cut all contact at some point during the split of Xadia. Besides the obvious leaders and other diplomats, they'd all brought a couple of guards, some mages, a healer, and a gaggle of children who'd had no where else to stay _but_ with their parents, the fact that said parents were on a diplomatic mission be damned. Then the similarities ended and the parties became more varied, such as the Sunfire elves bringing some blacksmiths.

 

They were still standing in the courtyard after Ezran gave them his best welcome speech. All of the elves were staring at them, none wanting to move, or try to introduce themselves. Ezran could see Rayla signalling to the other Moonshadow elves from the corner of his eye, just subtle enough for them to notice but not enough to make a scene. Her people ignored her silent pleas. The leader had the smallest hint of guilt on their face, but a few were glaring at Rayla for standing with humans instead of them. Ezran heard her call them cowards under her breath. Callum was looking to the Skywing elves, having befriended a few of them in Xadia. When it looked like one of the teenage Skywing elves was willing to break the horribly awkward silence, an adult moved a hand in front of them to keep them back. They'd barely begun and it was already looking to be a disaster.

 

Suddenly, a gasp from the back of the crowd. The kids perked in curiosity as more gasps followed, and the elves began getting out of the way of what was coming to the front. Rather, _who_ was coming to the front. Aaravos was the only one not gawking at the three Startouch elves making their way thru the crowd. There was a woman, carrying herself with grace and the general aura of a leader, a young looking man with a broken horn, clad in armor, and a toddler, currently in the woman's arms. Ezran could briefly see more Startouch elves thru the gap that the crowd had made, but then the trio made it to him and he needed to give them his full attention.

 

"I apologize for our lateness, we received your letter on short notice." The woman lifted part of her skirt in an attempt at a curtsy, the toddler not allowing her to do much.

 

The toddler didn't really seem to care about anything at first, but something caught their eye. They pointed to Ezran's left, smiling brightly. "Startouch!" This would easily be explained by Aaravos' existence, except the mage was on the king's right. Ezran turned to find the toddler was pointing at _Gren_. He seemed just as surprised, really, but upon closer inspection, all four of the closest startouch elves had stars on their cheeks very similar to his freckles.

 

"Human." Their mother gently corrected.

 

The toddler looked at her, hand coming down, then pointed again. "Startouch." Less excited this time, but with conviction.

 

A gentle shake of the head. "No."

 

The toddler didn't even point this time. "Startouch..." They seemed less sure of them self.

 

The woman paused, glanced at Gren, then looked back to her child. "Yes, Startouch."

 

The knight was less than pleased. " _No! Don't lie to her!_ " He whispered, moving to take the little girl and give the woman a small chest he had been carrying.

 

The woman moved on like the entire exchange hadn't just happened, presenting the chest before Ezran. "We have brought you this gift, in the name of peace. You may give them to whomever you wish." The chest was opened to reveal no less than _six_ _primal stones_. The night sky glittered from within each of them, signaling that they were all of the star primal. Before the chest was closed and handed to Ezran, she removed one single stone and gave it to Callum without further comment. Exactly what Ezran had already been planning to do.

 

The startouch elves had taken the awkwardness of before and shattered it like glass. When they stepped back, the leader of the Moonshadow elves stepped forward.

 

\---

 

     After the courtyard ordeal was over, their new guests were shown to their rooms. Callum was back, so Aaravos couldn't use his bed anymore, but rather conveniently, his room had been moved to across the hall from theirs. Ezran had a sneaking suspicion that Opeli had something to do with it. The dragon queen was more of a problem. She was just too big to fit in the castle, and even when they'd been in the courtyard, she had her head poking over a wall. She would need to be guarded at night while she slept, _outside_ the castle. The elves naturally offered up their own guards, and Ezran had entrusted Soren to the task as his own contribution. He was back in fighting shape, and Ezran was confident he would be enough. Zym was sticking to Ezran like glue, and the queen had asked the young king to watch over him.

 

There was something else that needed doing, during this current period of rest. It's why Ezran and Callum were approaching the leader of the Moonshadow elves, appropriately enough called Luna. "We have some of your assassins in our dungeon, and we'd like to return them to you. I wanted to let them go, but since they were sent to kill me, no one would let me do that before you got here." Ezran held Bait tightly out of nervousness.

 

Luna seemed to take this in for a moment, before nodding slightly in what might have been agreement to that decision. "Please, take me to them." So they did. The assassins seemed bashful to see her, having failed at half their mission in such a spectacular way. _Then_ she asked about their missing bindings, and everyone's hearts dropped. No one was expecting her to take that 4 of her 6 assassins had been revived by dark magic well _at all_. She proceeded to take it like a champ. "Given the circumstances, being angry would be foolish of me. I'm just happy you've treated them so well." Her reaction gave Ezran hope that everything would turn out well. The assassins were released, and then it was off to the medical wing to see Runaan and Rayla. Runaan's arm was looking _a lot_ better than it had. The signs of where the binding had been were still there, but almost gone.

 

"One of those Sunfire elves came in here and worked his magic." The doctor explained. "Real useful stuff, maybe I should try to connect to the sun." No one was sure if he was joking or not, he took his job pretty seriously.

 

Runaan explained all that had happened. The mission, the coin, Gren freeing him from the coin with _more_ dark magic. This caused Luna to turn toward the young king, but he put up his hands. "We are definitely banning dark magic as soon as possible." Satisfied with this answer, she returned her attention to Runaan. Rayla got formally praised for her bravery and hand in returning the dragon prince, then Luna left to rest in her room. The other assassins were escorted to get rooms, and the children fled to the boy's room because they were also tired. On the way there, Rayla stopped them before they could turn a corner. The party could hear talking down the other hall. 

 

"-a human." It sounded like Aaravos.

 

"Well, it's not like they were being attacked by a _dragon_." The voice of the woman who led the Startouch elves, it just now occurred to the children that she hadn't told _anyone_ her name. "Only you are foolish enough to do such a thing." She laughed, "you're also the only one strong enough to do so, but that's neither here nor there."

 

The children were frozen, even as the distance closed and the voices got louder. "Do you know? Elarion, did she-" Aaravos didn't finish his sentence, since they'd reached the corner where the kids had been hiding. A croak from Bait sent the children scrambling to their original destination, leaving the Startouch elves far behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter, featuring the startouch elves showing up 15 minutes late with Starbucks, then telling the other elves to hold their coffees so they can show them the fuck up.
> 
> Bait's Croak Translation: "RUN!"
> 
> Also Aaravos backstory begins. That relationship warning tag I put is FINALLY going to be relevant.


	9. Key to the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peace negotiations continue, the kids relax after a long day by playing with the cube.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -chugs soda- Look, I'm not skilled enough to mimic Rayla's accent, so I'm not bothering.

     The morning after the elves arrived, the dragon queen awoke safe and sound. The elves seemed to take this as a good sign, and relaxed enough to not try to hide their smaller children behind them whenever a human was around. The teenagers had even been allowed to wander the castle on their own. This was how Ezran had met Callum's new Skywing friends, after they'd tackled his brother to tell him the joyous news of their freedom. Ezran recognized one of them, Sora, as the elf who had tried to step forward in the courtyard, but was denied.

 

"Your kingdom is so much more amazing than you described! I can't believe the elders let us come! I wanna stay here forever!" One of the girls cheered excitedly.

 

"Your city is _in the sky_ , and you want to stay in boring ol' Katolis. Truly, the best decision, Wendy." Callum joked.

 

"In the sky?" Ezran inquired, eyes sparkling.

 

Rayla nodded. "Yeah, their city flies high up in the clouds usin' magic. It's where the dragon queen was hidden away, since humans couldn't get to it. These guys are the ones who helped get us up there. Managed to sneak us right to the Queen too. Without them, who knows what we'd be doing now."

 

Sora shook his head. "Callum saved me after I broke my wing, it is only natural we helped you in return." They chatted for a little while longer about the finer details of this story, and even made a promise to Ezran to have him visit them someday. The children were clearly excited at the idea of peace, and when they went their separate ways, it left the trio feeling hopeful. Of course, it could never be that easy.

 

\---

 

     There had been a lot of arguing in the council room that day. The elves were still apprehensive, quite a few believing one good deed didn't suddenly wipe the horrible atrocities of war clean. Others didn't believe Ezran's statement of banning dark magic. If they weren't arguing with the human council members, they were even arguing with each other. Treating their assassins kindly despite everything had Luna and the other Moonshadow elves firmly on the human's side, and Callum's connection to the sky arcanum had gotten respect from most of the Skywing elves, but they were believed to be foolish by the others. The leader of the Startouch elves had said nothing thru all of this, more interested in tending to her fussy toddler. Eventually she just let them onto the table to play with the figurines, startling everyone and getting them to quiet down. Aaravos was clearly fighting back laughter. Once again, the Startouch elves' complete lack of care for traditions and other social rules had reset the mood.

 

She finally spoke herself. "The humans may visit the Star Nexus whenever they wish. If they would like to attempt to connect to the stars, we shall even teach them ourselves." It seemed to be a running theme with them, offering to share the thing most important to them with such ease. Some of the other elves looked guilty now, the offer making them feel childish.

 

Others looked ready to object, so Ezran spoke up. "And we would like to give the Moon Nexus back to the Moonshadow elves. It landed on our side when the border was made, and it's high time they got it back." The meeting continued, with a lot less yelling this time, but it was still taxing.

 

\---

 

     The children were in the boys' room now, playing with the Key of Aaravos. They had a healthy stash of jelly tarts and some of the gifts the elves had brought. Rayla held the cube as Callum reached across Ezran with his shiny new primal stone, the star lighting up a brilliant purple, just as expected. "You think if I asked Aaravos to teach me some star magic, he'd agree?" Callum asked, staring intently at the orb.

 

"Probably!" Ezran said thru a mouthful of jelly tart. "He teaches me stuff all the time." He took a piece of jewelry gifted from the Earthblood elves and watched as the earth symbol lit up.

 

Rayla dug thru the gifts until she found something from the Oceanwave elves, but it didn't light up the ocean symbol. She let out an annoyed huff. "Do you think if we lit up this whole thing, it'd unlock that great power you were talkin' about?" 

 

Callum tried another ocean elf gift, still nothing. "Dad's letter said it unlocks something in Xadia, so probably not, but it'd still be cool if we got the whole thing to light up." The children continued to dig thru the ocean elf gifts, but not a single one lit up the ocean symbol. At one point the earth symbol even lit up instead, like they were being mocked. "We could definitely get it to light up if we had an Oceanwave elf in here, but they're probably all asleep. We can't wake them up for this."

 

The kids ignored the knock on the door to stare at the cube dejectedly. "Are you not ready for your lesson?" Aaravos asked them as he entered. He'd arrived to teach Ezran more about elf political etiquette, as he'd been doing before they even got there.

 

The young king perked up. "I bet Aaravos can light them all up!" He exclaimed, and took the cube from Rayla, practically shoving it in the shocked man's face. True to theory, the cube did light up on all sides. A few clicks could be heard from inside, then the soft, soothing melody of a lullaby filled the room. Aaravos looked like he'd seen a ghost, gently moving Ezran's hand away until the cube was too far away to light up anymore.

 

"The cube is a music box?" Callum breathed out quietly. The echos of the melody were still in the room, like it was haunting them, and it felt _wrong_ somehow, to speak too loudly.

 

Aaravos let out a long, shuddering breath. "I made that cube long ago, as a gift for my child." He offered them nothing more, silently leaving the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 9 chapters and I'm just now really getting into the main point of this fic.


	10. Bed time story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The children learn about Elarion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What was originally supposed to be maybe 3 crappy chapters has reached the double digits. The chapters are still crappy tho, that hasn't changed.

     It's not like the kids could just leave Aaravos alone after _that_ reveal. "He looked so sad..." Ezran had said, and thus, their new quest was decided. Unlike returning the dragon prince, it took their party of six all of 20 minutes to find Aaravos in the currently deserted garden. He was sitting on a bench, staring at nothing. When Ezran went to touch him, the mage moved an arm up to protect himself, not realizing who it was. Hidden beneath the hood of his cloak, the children thought they saw the glimmer of a tear.

 

"Ah, little one, I'm sorry, I-" It was painfully obvious that Aaravos was trying to compose himself, but it clearly wasn't working. "I forgot about your lesson, didn't I?" Ezran had seen the mage laugh, seen him give genuine smiles that weren't smug, even seen him angry, but he'd never seen him like _this_. Aaravos was so powerful, so in control at all times, it had never crossed Ezran's mind that he could be so vulnerable too.

 

"I'm sorry I shoved the cube in your face." Ezran whispered, hugging Bait tightly.

 

Aaravos seemed to sober up, just a little, lifting a hand to cup one of Ezran's cheeks. "You've done nothing wrong, little one." He pulled the child into his arms, repeating the statement. "You've done nothing wrong."

 

Callum cleared his throat. "Do you... wanna talk about it?" Rayla shot him a look.

 

"Only if you would care to hear it." The answer was yes, obviously, and they moved to sit more comfortably under a tree. Ezran had decided they were going to sit in Aaravos' lap with Bait, while Callum and Rayla had taken either side of him, then Zym claimed Callum's lap. Wormavos had claimed one of their master's horns. "Now where should I begin... Perhaps with their mother..." The kids agreed. It didn't matter where he started so long as this made him feel better.

 

"Her name was Elarion." The kids remembered this name from their accidental eavesdropping session. "Before Thunder became king of the dragons, the dragons had a much crueler leader. They let the dragons do whatever they wanted to everyone else, and considering how powerful dragons are, no one could stand up to them. Elarion had angered one over silly reasons, and came to the Star Nexus, begging for help. The others weren't strong enough to fight a dragon, and if they tried, the entire Nexus would pay. They were forced to turn their backs on her."

 

"You saved her right?" Ezran asked in alarm.

 

"Naturally." Aaravos laughed. "I'd already mastered the primal sources, and it only took one spell to send that dragon flying off in fright. She was quite taken with me after that display."

 

"Oh, so it was a knight in shining armor deal, huh?" The voice came from a nearby bush.

 

"Soren!" Yep, Soren and Claudia had been eavesdropping. They were prompted to join the group for the rest of the story, and came to sit properly in front of them instead of against the tree.

 

"Shortly after, Thunder became the new king of the dragons, and put a stop to their more frivolous rampaging. If he'd been just a bit faster, I might never have met her, actually." A pause. "Elarion had an interest in magic, and I was already fond of humans as a whole. She used these two things to get closer to me. If I had connected to more primal sources than what I was born to, perhaps she could also connect to them, she reasoned. I took her on as my apprentice."

 

"Did she succeed?" Callum asked.

 

"No, she was awful at it. No matter what she tried, she was never able to connect to a primal source. Despite this, I eventually fell in love with her, so she managed half her goals, at least. We were married under the stars, as is tradition for Startouch elves..." At this point Aaravos got a wistful look on his face as he remembered his wedding, and had to be prompted to continue his story. "Elarion was clever and determined. Not being able to connect to a primal source did not deter her, and eventually, she figured out another way. _Dark magic_." A collective gasp. 

 

"Wait, Elarion is the one who created it?" Claudia asked.

 

"She was. She'd used a few feathers, fallen off a bird, for her first spell. Not a single thing died, and neither of us thought anything amiss. We saw that humans _could_ do magic, and were overjoyed. Elarion continued to experiment, only using things that naturally dropped from creatures, or something like leftover bones from our dinner. Then, shortly after becoming pregnant with our child, she shared her findings with other humans. Then she gave birth to such a cute little one. The unpredictable nature of half elf half human children caused him to look nothing like me, really, but he was connected to the stars. Then I made the cube, so that when he was a bit older he could learn about the world, and the magic it held. Since they were so young, I thought adding music that played when the star lit up in their hands would make them happy, and that was the end of it. It's not some powerful artifact, but simply a child's toy, filled with my love for them."

 

Everyone else was suddenly reminded that the story had originally been about the cube and Aaravos' mysterious child. "Wait, what about Elarion, and the other humans and dark magic?" They asked.

 

"Do you really want to know about all that?" Aaravos asked, seeming genuinely surprised.

 

"You were in a mirror..." Ezran told him, and the mage simply nodded.

 

"Alright, I shall tell you then." He began anew. "Originally, I was in touch with the other elves quite a lot. We Startouch elves naturally stay out of the affairs of everyone else, but our leader and I agreed we should integrate better with the others, so I was put in charge of it. It's how I know so many diplomatic things. During Elarion's pregnancy, and for a while after, I took a step back from it all, to care for my growing family. When I returned, I found that some of the other humans had started using still living creatures in their dark magic, and some had even attacked the elves and the dragons. Frightened and appalled by what they saw, they had begun splitting the continent in two. Naturally, not everyone agreed to this madness. Some, like myself, had humans as part of their families, or as irreplaceable friends. I begged the others to see reason, but they refused. Eventually, after seeing the humans treated so cruelly as they were already being ripped from their homes, when most of them had done nothing wrong, I was ready to fight people I once called my friends. Except, they had captured Elarion and our baby, and threatened to harm them if I didn't do as I was told. They could not have me opposing the split, and trapped me in the mirror to keep me out of the way. I was informed recently that they told Thunder and the dragon queen that human dark mages were the ones to seal me away, and they spent the rest of their days lying about working to find a way to free me." There was a bitterness in his voice now.

 

"What about Elarion? And the baby?" It was Rayla, who was _very_ invested by this point. They all were really.

 

"The other Startouch elves managed to get them back. They lied and said they wanted to execute Elarion for betraying me to the humans. They snuck them both across the border, and that's where they parted ways. I don't know what happened to them after, but I don't doubt that I have at least one descendant." Aaravos stretched, and moved Ezran off his lap. "But that's for another time. It's getting late and is time for bed. I'm sure your aunt and her interpreter are also tired." There was confusion for a bit, but then Amaya's and Gren's heads popped out from behind an entirely different bush. He'd been signing the entire story to her. "And Rayla's father as well."

 

"What do you mean my fath-" Runaan dropped down from the branches of the tree they'd been sitting under. "Oh."

 

Aaravos' smug smile returned as he walked away from the scene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy April Fools! This chapter isn't a joke tho.
> 
> Elarion: I came to do two things: Marry the hot elf who saved me and do magic, and guess who just got married.


	11. Peaceful days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We interrupt your regularly scheduled main plot to find out what everybody else in the castle is doing. Main plot still happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm using April Fools Day as an excuse to not write a serious summary.
> 
> Is Soren the leader of the crownguard? I don't know, nor do I care. He's the leader now.

     Back when Ezran and Corvus had split from the group to take the throne, they'd run into Soren and Claudia. Despite his injuries and the horrible pain, Soren had bowed to Ezran, and swore him an oath, right then and there. It was more for himself than for Ezran, a new goal in life, but Ezran was pretty touched by the gesture, and Soren got to keep his job. When the elves arrived, Soren stood by his side to protect him. Then the young king dismissed him from his side, entrusting him with one of the most important jobs of the entire peace meeting. Protecting the dragon queen while she slept. The other elves took shifts with one another, Soren did not. It wasn't for a lack of options, Ezran had trusted him to pick his best guards to switch with, but Soren had chosen to have them all protect Ezran. So all night, Soren kept vigilant watch over the dragon queen, and then went to sleep after she awoke. He then woke up, cared for his moth, ate, made sure the Crown Guard were doing their jobs, then had some down time before the dragon queen went to sleep, and the process started anew. It had earned him a level of respect from the other elven guards, and after a sparring session with Marcos, a Sunfire elf had challenged him. Soren had originally accepted, but then the elf pulled out a sunforge blade.

 

"Woah, woah, woah! We do not use those for training!" Soren threw him a wooden sword, which he caught. "We're not trying to accidentally kill each other here." The elf understood, and put away the magic fire blade of burning death.

 

"Woo, go elf guy!" Claudia cheered from the sidelines.

 

The elf glanced at her. "Your sister?"

 

"Yep." Good to know Xadian siblings were the same.

 

Soren won the match, and then another elf challenged him, one of the elf assassins from Runaan's group. Ram, if he remembered correctly. Soren won that too, but that wasn't surprising, considering Soren distinctly remembered being the one to strike the elf down that awful night. Then more elves challenged him, because apparently it had become a thing. Soren won them all, proving _exactly_ why he was the youngest crown guard in history, and their leader to boot. Then a Sunfire elf woman called Janai challenged him, and he finally had to admit defeat. The woman was Amaya level bad ass. She helped him up tho, and gave him one of those really awesome, small nods of approval. Soren was over the moon as he left, and his day actually managed to get better. Ezran had found him, and asked him to follow.

 

"It's one of the gifts from the elves, but I can't use it." Ezran was holding up a sunforge blade to him. "Callum and I decided to give it to you, so it wouldn't be wasted."

 

Soren unsheathed the blade and inspected it. Given it was supposed to be a gift, it was of the highest quality. Light weight and easy to use, it felt comfortable in his hand. Soren bowed to his king. "I am honored, your Majesty."

 

\---

 

     Callum found Claudia in the garden, meditating with an Earthblood elf. It was the healer they had brought. Apparently, Claudia had shown interest in their healing magic, and the elf was trying to teach her about the primal source.

 

"Since Ezran is banning dark magic, and you proved that humans can clearly do primal magic, I figured the best one to learn would be one with the potential to heal. That way I can help Soren in case he ever gets hurt again! Plus, Amber here practically forced me under her wing." The elf whispered something about saving fawns, but Callum couldn't quite catch it.

 

"Well, until then, you can use this." Callum told her, and held out one of the star primal stones. 

 

Claudia gasped. "Are you sure?"

 

He nodded. "Yeah, you're _really_ good at magic, Claudia. Ez and I thought it'd be a shame if you had to stop doing it, so we decided to entrust one of the stones to you."

 

Claudia looked like she was about to cry, honestly touched by the gesture. She hugged him, whispering her thanks, and Callum heard Amber ask for a high four as he left.

 

\---

 

     Rayla and Runaan were just taking a relaxing walk around the castle when they stumbled across two Earthblood elves having an interesting conversation. "They are called a puppy!" One of the elves said as the aforementioned puppy wagged their tail in his arms.

 

" _They're magnificent_." Gasped the other.

 

"Yes, her father is one of the finest trackers in the kingdom!"

 

"Truly a noble child!"

 

"Yes, and the humans just gave her to me! They said I could take her back to Xadia when we leave!"

 

"What an honor!"

 

After that, the puppy licked the face of the elf holding her, causing him to cry about how beautiful she was. His companion let out a sigh, as if this was a normal occurrence. The Moonshadow elves stifled their laughter as they continued their walk.

 

\---

 

     Callum sat on his bed, turning the cube around in his hands. Another day of meetings, and they were closer than ever to getting a proper peace treaty. More and more elves were open to the idea of opening Xadia's borders, but they all needed to agree. Rayla entered, joining him on the bed. "I know that look. What's on your mind?"

 

"Peace, obviously." 

 

"Yeah right, I know it's somethin' else. If it was just peace, you wouldn't be staring at the cube like you did before you knew the secret." She knew him too well by now.

 

"Okay, you caught me. I just don't feel like that music box was the only secret. It started after the whole thing lit up, but Aaravos specifically mentioned the star during his story. Something feels weird about it."

 

"Yeah, but you lit the star up several times that night, and nothin' played."

 

"But _you_ were holding it! It didn't play until-"

 

" _Ezran held it._ " They said in unison.

 

"Do you think-" Callum started, only for Rayla to shake her head.

 

"No way! It's too convenient! Aaravos looks at Ezran like Runaan looks at me, he even tucked him into bed that night! Maybe the magic can just pick up on that?"

 

"We do have one way to find out." Callum said, taking out the primal stone. 

 

The children watched intently as he slowly brought the stone closer to the star. Callum dropped the stone as the melody began, and Rayla's quick reflexes were the only thing stopping it from shattering against the floor.

 

"Maybe he sees me as his kid too now, since we're brothers. He has been nicer to me than a lot of other people." Rayla looked entirely unimpressed with him.

 

"Now you're denying it instead, huh?" He was, definitely, and as Ezran and Bait entered the room, the two of them had an idea.

 

"Hey, Ez, where's Aaravos?" Callum asked.

 

"In the library, why?"

 

They checked the hall way for life before walking across it to the mage's room, and quietly sneaking inside. The Startouch elves had brought some of Aaravos' old things when they'd arrived, and now the kids were planning to look thru them. Bait provided the light, and the kids found Wormavos staring up at them from a pile of leaves.

 

"Shh, don't tell Aaravos." Ezran told the worm, and it went back to eating. "Callum, what are we looking for anyway?"

 

"A portrait or something. Anything to tell us what Elarion looked like."

 

The children searched and searched, careful to leave each thing as they found it. Eventually, Ezran got fed up. "Why do you even want to know Callum? Why are we even sneaking around like this? Aaravos always answers our questions."

 

"No, Ez, we need to find this out on our own." He honestly didn't know why he said it. Why _did_ they need to find out on their own?

 

"Find out _what_ on our own? Callum!" Rayla had tried to shush the boy but it didn't work. Then she saw Wormavos staring at her in a _very_ unnerving way. 

 

"Guys, the worm-" But the boys were too busy arguing with each other to hear her.

 

Callum finally put his hands on Ezran's shoulders. "Ez, it's because _we_ might be Aaravos' descendants."

 

" _You are._ " Aaravos was at the doorway, blocking their only escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone fucking guessed it last chapter, and it took everything I had not to tell them as such.
> 
> (And I know I say someone a lot, but I do know who y'all are by name. I'm just weird about saying it outright)


	12. You're Grounded!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids get in trouble for snooping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -sips soda thru straw- Grandpavos 100% confirmed, no more in story doubts.
> 
> My ability to write more than one chapter a day also confirmed. There is no end in site.

     Not only was Aaravos blocking their way to freedom, he was angry with them. Of course he was, they'd snuck into his room and went thru his things! What made it 20 times worse was that he wasn't looking at them in a pissed off kind of way, he was looking at them in a 'so disappointed in you' type of way. Ezran looked like he'd been slapped, and Callum, despite knowing the elf for less than a week, felt like he was five-years-old again, looking up at King Harrow after he'd painted on the castle walls. Rayla looked guilty just because they'd gotten caught. An icy, "we'll discuss this _later_ ," left Aaravos lips, and he marched them all to Rayla's room, which she shared with Runaan.

 

The words, "you're grounded," were the first thing to leave the man's mouth. Then the door was shut, and they could hear Runaan's muffled, unintelligible voice thru it as he scolded her.

 

Aaravos then walked the boys back to their room, and shut the door behind them all harder than he usually did.

 

"Why didn't you tell us if you knew?" Callum asked, trying to act like Aaravos looking at him the way he was didn't make him want to hide under his own bed.

 

"I've only known for a _single day_." He didn't raise his voice, but this was somehow so much worse. "I had my suspicions, when I saw your mother's portrait, and when I met your aunt, but it was too convenient. It was only confirmed to me when the cube played the lullaby in Ezran's hands." Ezran squirmed, squeezing Bait tightly and refusing to look up from the floor. Aaravos never called him Ezran when they weren't doing official business. "If you had simply asked me, or waited until everyone from Xadia had left, I would have told you." Callum was reminded of meeting his aunt back at the breach, and how _she_ had scolded him for not telling her about the egg at the banther lodge.

 

 _"If you'd simply told me, I would have escorted you to Xadia myself!"_ She had signed.

 

"Does that mean Elarion looks like them?" Ezran had finally gathered enough courage to speak at all.

 

The mage's face softened. "Ah yes, you'd been searching for a portrait hadn't you?" Callum took down every curve and line of the rune Aaravos traced, but he didn't say a word to activate the magic.

 

Even if she was just an illusion, conjured up from his memories, the woman did look strikingly similar to Sarai and Amaya. Not completely like them, but the resemblance was there and undeniable.

 

"Why didn't you have to use a word to activate your spell?" Callum just had to open his mouth. The woman faded away, and Aaravos looked mad again, remembering that he was supposed to be punishing them.

 

"Perhaps I'll teach you how another time, when you're not _snooping in my room._ " The boys flinched. His descendants or not, Aaravos didn't have the authority to ground them, so he didn't, but it sure felt like they'd been grounded as he left.

 

\---

 

     Much like Rayla, the boys didn't leave their room unless it was important for the next three days. At least they'd made progress during the meetings. The elves had _finally_ agreed to open the border back up, they'd gotten the finer details of the basic treaty figured out, and even managed to get it signed! There was talk of asking for a Summit of the Pentarchy, to include the other kingdoms in this peace, but for now it was done, and a party was being planned. Rayla had been freed thanks to this, and the boys decided it was okay to leave their own self inflicted grounding behind. Runaan had also gotten a letter, which excited Rayla.

 

"You guys are gonna love Tinker!" Rayla told them excitedly.

 

"His name is Tinker?" Ezran asked.

 

"That's not his real name." Runaan said from somewhere behind them. Apparently Runaan was married, and had been planning to leave with the other Moonshadow elves when this was all said and done to return to his husband. Except, since he was Rayla's caretaker, and _she_ was staying, Luna had asked Runaan to stay as well. Thus, the husband had decided he was tired of waiting for his beloved to come home, so he was coming to Katolis. The jury was still out on weather he would make it in time for the party or not.

 

\---

 

     He did arrive in time for the party, and he'd brought Rayla some lovely hand made accessories to wear for it. He'd also brought more gifts for Callum and Ezran, but those were less for peace and more because they'd been so kind to Rayla and Runaan. Now here the kids were, dressed to the nines. Aaravos was finished fussing over Ezran's clothes and had moved onto Callum, who was too busy watching Rayla do a spin in her fancy new dress to say much about. After them being his descendants had been revealed, the mage had dropped all pretense that he wasn't parenting the two of them. This was their lives now. Not that having one of the most powerful people in Xadia doting on them was a bad thing.

 

"It's not traditional, but I kinda like it." Rayla said, and Tinker told her to hold still as he adjusted a decoration on her horns. 

 

Soon it was _actually_ time for the party, and Ezran was tasked with giving a kingly speech. He described finding the egg, traveling for Xadia, and having to turn back before he got there. He described getting Callum's letter, and the peace meetings. He described a bright future, where elves and humans were no longer separated, and lived together in harmony. Unlike the first day, where his speech was met with awkward silence, this time it was met with loud cheers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaravos is so good at parenting he got his kids to ground themselves. Jk
> 
> I'm going to have to deal with Viren at some point...


	13. Judges, Juries, and Children's Tales

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Most of the Xadians return home, and Ezran can no longer avoid dealing with Viren. The story comes to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "It's over." - Aaravos

     Ezran hugged Zym tightly in his arms. "Don't worry, I'll come visit you soon." He assured him when the baby dragon cooed in sorrow. It was time for the people of Xadia to return home.

 

"I will fly him to you myself if I must." His mother assured, and Zym finally climbed onto her back. Everyone waved goodbye as the dragon queen took to the sky, and lead the elves back to Xadia.

 

\---

 

     Ezran managed to avoid doing anything with Viren for another month after that, but then everything died down and he was being brought up in council meetings again. Surprising no one, Alan was suggesting execution.

 

"Now now, that's a bit harsh, isn't it?" Aaravos asked, and Ezran noticed he was more serious than usual.

 

"What do you know?! You weren't here for any of this!" Alan snapped at him. The general wasn't too happy that an elf that had shown up out of no where and been here for less than two months had so easily been appointed to the council, and had been pretty stubborn about anything Aaravos said so far. Alan was _convinced_ the mage had done something to the young king. Aaravos said nothing, letting the comment slide off his back. This just pissed Alan off more.

 

Ezran sunk down into his chair, squeezing Bait tightly. "Why is it always execution with you? You know we have other punishments right?" Callum asked him, and another round of arguments at the council table began. Ezran sunk even further into his chair.

 

\---

 

     "Well, yeah, he's my _dad_ , of course I don't want him to be punished! But he betrayed the kingdom, I'm not in charge of what happens to him." Soren had answered when Ezran asked him. Claudia had answered in a similar manner. Ezran didn't know _what_ to do. He didn't want to execute Viren or lock him up for the rest of his life, but those were the main punishments for the kind of stunts he'd pulled. Callum was partial to locking him up forever, so it's not like he could talk to his brother about it. He needed to be a strong king, who could actually punish people when they'd done bad! Yet the idea of doing either to Viren, despite what he'd done, left pain in his heart.

 

"You care deeply about others, little one, it's only natural that you don't wish to hurt them." Aaravos had told him, giving him a hug. "You rule this place, it is up to you how this is handled." Aaravos was trying to support him, but Ezran could tell he was hiding something.

 

Eventually, he decided to speak with Viren himself. Callum at his side, they entered the dark mage's cell, where he had been chained for questioning. The effect of years of dark magic made him look awful, and somewhat frightening. Callum did most of the talking, because Ezran was distracted by Wormavos moving around excitedly in his hair. Magical creatures weren't allowed in Viren's cell for obvious reasons, and even Callum didn't know Ezran had brought them. " _What are you so excited about?_ " He whispered, and was met with excited squeaking of _someone_ being here with them. Callum was looking away from Viren now, and that's when Ezran saw it. The young king made a successful grab for the head poking out of Viren's ear, tugging it out despite its attempts to get away from him. Viren shivered at the sensation, and the boys stared at the second worm, trying to get away from Ezran to continue their mission.

 

"King Ezran, that's dangerous!" Viren told him, but Ezran wasn't listening to him. He wasn't listening to Callum either, calling after the boy as he darted out of the cell, worm in hand.

 

\---

 

     Aaravos found him easily, in the old dungeon cell where they'd first met. He was sitting on the floor with worms in hand, staring at the broken remains of the mirror. The elf quietly sat beside him.

 

After a while, Ezran finally broke the silence. "How long were you helping him?"

 

"Not for very long." He answered. "He kept refusing to go thru with the final part of the ritual, and by the time he was ready, he'd already met with the other kingdoms. He was quite desperate."

 

Ezran flopped against the mage's side, and Aaravos wrapped his arms around him. "Was _I_ desperate?"

 

A laugh. "Little one, you were the most desperate out of anyone." They sat in silence for a long time after that, until Ezran decided he wanted to go back upstairs. Callum was waiting for them in-

 

\---

 

     A knock at a bookshelf made Aaravos stop talking, and the gaggle of children surrounding him groaned and turned to glare at the interrupter. "Grandpaaaaaa, we were _finally_ gonna find out if you got executed or not!" Maxamillion whined, and Viren looked surprised, not sure how to answer to that.

 

"Of course he didn't get executed!" Sarai exclaimed from Aaravos side. "He's right there! Executed means you die!" Amaya's daughter was quite the spitfire.

 

"This is the _13th time_ he interrupted the story!" Aquarius, a half oceanwave elf, half human child exclaimed. "I know, I counted!"

 

"I don't control when it's time for dinner." Viren told them incredulously, and the children decided to ignore him and beg Aaravos to continue the story.

 

"Was Callum mad at you?" One asked.

 

"What about Mom? What did she do when she learned you were her grandpa?!" Sarai asked, then gasped, a realization hitting her 6-year-old mind. " _Does she still not know?_ " She whispered.

 

"She knows." Aaravos laughed. "I'll tell you all next time, and eventually about what happened with the other kingdoms too, but for now, dinner." This placated the children enough to get up and head for dinner, but they were all still huffy about it.

 

Viren shook his head. "I don't know know how you make a history lesson so exciting."

 

"It's all in how you spin it." Aaravos replied with a grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This entire fic ends as Aaravos telling it like an actual story to children. He was the narrator at the beginning of the show, so I found it fitting.
> 
> Viren was stripped of his title and pardoned btw. He proceeded to use this new lease on life to be a better dad/good grandpa. Not nearly as exciting as I accidentally made it out to be.
> 
> It's up to you on if Soren or Claudia is the parent of Maxamillion, and if they are a biological child or adopted. I tried to keep ships out of this fic, so insert your own. But as my last act as author, Sarai is Amaya and Gren's kid. I wrote 13 chapters in less than that many days, I earned the right to one not canon, not plot necessary ship.
> 
> Thank you all for supporting me thru this self indulgent mess I call a fic. I hope you enjoyed it. And to you guys that commented on multiple chapters, u especially deserve all the damn love. (You know who y'all are)


End file.
